A thankful task

Goodfellow officers dish out food to airmen

Goodfellow Air Force Base commanding officers dish out Thanksgiving lunch to junior service men and women to show their gratitude.

Photos by Kimberley Meyer/Standard-Times
Sgt. Justin Slate hands a plate filled with traditional holiday foods to Lindsay Kreider on Thursday at Goodfellow Air Force Base. Kreider was one of nearly 1,000 service members who had the Thanksgiving meal on base this year, served by Slate and other officers.

Tina Nombrano and her son, John Paul, stand in line to receive their Thanksgiving meal at Goodfellow. The Nombranos came to eat with family members.

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Shelly Klein laughed and joked as she heaped green beans on a plate alongside turkey, mashed potatoes and white gravy, handing it to an airman over the counter.

"Your mom's going to be happy with you," Klein said with a smile.

Klein, whose husband Col. Kelly Klein is a commanding officer with Goodfellow Air Force Base, stood at the end of a cafeteria line of uniformed officers wearing aprons and chef's hats.

Together they served turkey, ham, roast beef, glazed sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie to junior service members during lunchtime Thursday.

"It's nice they come out to sacrifice a part of their Thanksgiving to help out," said Gelishia Rose, who works in knowledge operations. "It shows that they care. They know we have to be here and try to make us more comfortable."

Rose, originally from upstate New York, said she would normally be cooking with her mother to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner.

"It's not home, but it's as close as it gets," Rose said.

Over the three-hour lunchtime, about 20 commanding officers and staff sergeants served lunch to 962 people, including service members and people from the community.

"It's a chance to thank (them) for what they do," Klein said. "They normally see (commanders) from behind a desk. It's a chance to socialize with them."

Klein sees herself as a mother figure to a lot of the airmen, partly because her son is an airman based in Northern Alaska.

"Hopefully he's getting his veggies," she said. She gasped as one junior airman declined the cooked vegetables she was serving.

"I yell at them when they're not eating their vegetables," she said with a laugh.

As people came through the line, she showed interest in their backgrounds and asked them about their weekend plans.

"It's nice to be able to interact with (the commanding officers), to see them out and about," said Shane Smith, a 23-year-old airman from Vermont. "I'm honored."

It was Smith's first Thanksgiving away from home. He began serving six months ago.

Like Smith, many junior members were a long way from home.

"There's a big Puerto Rican community here at the base," said Ernesto Pinero, who serves in the Army and is from Puerto Rico. "We're going to cook our own turkey. We're spending the day together."

Lt. Col. Lisa Daho empathizes with many junior members who are spending their first Thanksgiving away from home, having spent many holidays in other countries including Germany and Korea.

"This is one of the best assignments I've had since I've been in the community," Daho said. "I'm not just saying that."

Daho carved hot, crumbling pieces off a large slab of roast beef and piled them on the dinner plates.

She said one of the things she looks forward to is being able to watch football on the day it's played, as opposed to watching it the day after Thanksgiving when she lived overseas.

"It's kind of an honor to serve them," Daho said. "I see the airmen as family. We're here with our family."

For Daho, who still has family and friends deployed overseas, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the year and appreciate the time spent with family.

"It's a neat tradition for the officers and commanders to serve them — give back a little bit," Daho said.

Klein said she and her husband invited some of the junior members to their house for dinner. She feels it's a good thing for them to see their commanding officer as a regular person.